La Perla is the neighborhood in the old San Juan, right outside the city walls, next to the the Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery. Supposedly it is the center of all kind of organized crime activities, such as drug trade and arms dealing. We didn’t go into it, so I didn’t observe any arm dealings first hand. While it looks really colorful from this angle, if you walk along the high side, it does look somewhat run down, which is why it probably attracts all kind of questionable element.
